The Windows XP operating system assumes a lot of things to give you the best performance and looks. The end result being that your machine looks like a lollipop but runs slower than a tortoise. Things like ‘cursor shadow’, sliding menus, etc. do look sleek, but at the same time they consume lot of system resources. Especially if your machine has the bare minimum 128 MB of Ram that is recommended for it, not by Microsoft, but by users and experts who know what the reality is. Incidentally, Microsoft says that a computer with 64 Mb of RAM and a processor upwards of 300 MHz is enough to install and run Windows XP.



The good thing about Windows XP is that it is highly customizable. Microsoft took care to make a great deal of its tweaks easily accessible to users of any experience level. Experimenting with them is the best way to maintain a balance between the mix of eye candy and system performance. In this article, we will tell you how you can fine-tune Windows XP to add that extra punch to your computer.



I. THE TOP TEN



1. Icons and Wallpaper

A tidy desktop is an efficient desktop. Your system's memory and CPU have better things to do than display pretty backgrounds and sort out a zillion desktop icons. Remember having desktop icons for your favorite program or documents makes accessing them easier, but it does drag your system a lot. On the other hand, the performance hit leveraged by such minor glitter is minimal, so if you are lucky enough to have more than 128MB of RAM and processor in the range of 600MHz or faster then don't worry too much about icons and wallpaper. However, if you have only 128 MB or (God forbid), 64 MB on a 400 something processor, then pick up your broom and clean out your systems desktop.



2. Unwanted Effects

In Windows XP, menu transitions are animated, dialogs and mouse cursors have shadows, and screen fonts are tweaked for maximum readability, and so on. All of the visual splendor can degrade the responsiveness of your system. Its best that you keep these under check. To do this, right-click on the desktop and select Properties, go to Appearance and then Effects. Ideally you should uncheck everything. From the second drop-down menu, choose ClearType smoothing technique. Press OK to save your changes.



Next, open the System Properties tool by right-clicking on My Computer and then clicking on Properties. Now, go to the Advanced tab, choose Custom and uncheck all those options that you do not want.



3. Automatic Updating

By default, Windows XP will alert you whenever Microsoft releases any new security fixes or patches. This is a cool feature to have but having it run automatically can occupy valuable memory and processor resources. It is better that you check for updates yourself on a regular basis. In the System Properties tool, go to the Automatic Updates tab and set the OS not to check for updates. Do this and then promise yourself to check for updates once a week or so. Else choose the option that says “Notify me before downloading any updates…”



4. System Restore

Perhaps the coolest feature in Windows XP is the System Restore feature. System Restore creates periodic snapshots of your critical system files (like the registry files, COM+ database, user profiles, and such) and stores them as a "restore point." Should you install an application or do something really bad that makes your PC go topsy-turvy, you can revert the computer to the state it was in at a restore point before you did what you did and happily undo whatever damage you inflicted onto your machine.



Restore points are automatically created by the System Restore service upon events, such as when a new application is installed, a Windows update is applied, an unsigned driver is installed, or some other event occurs that could have a negative effect on the operating system. You may create manual restore points through System Restore's main interface, which you can access through Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Restore.



You can control how much space it's allowed (which affects how many restore points it can create), and shut it down entirely, through the System Restore tab in the System Properties tool. You can adjust the percentage of space that System Restore is allowed to work with on each one. The ideal amount is 10%. There's also a checkbox that allows you to shut down System Restore entirely for all drives.









5. Add/Remove optional features of Windows XP

To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove from Windows XP after installation, do a search for the file sysoc.inf. It will be under C:\WINDOWS\INF. This file contains several lines of text, some of which have the word ‘hide’ in them. The entries that include the text hide or HIDE will not show up in Add/Remove Windows Components by default. To fix this, do a search and replace for ,hide and change each instance of this to , (a comma). Then, save the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.





6. Disable Drive Indexing

Open My Computer > right click on each drive and choose Properties > under the General tab, uncheck the box that says ‘Allow the Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching’. A window will pop up, make sure the box is checked that says 'Apply change to (drive letter):, subfolders and files' and click OK. Windows will apply the changes, click OK. Once you have done all the drives reboot the computer.






7. Windows Explorer Tip

When you launch Windows Explorer in Windows XP, by default it will open the "My Documents" folder. You can set it to open My Computer or any drive letter you want. To do this, edit the shortcut to Windows Explorer, by right clicking on it, and left clicking "Properties" and changing the "Target" box to: "C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n,/e," [adjust the path/drive letter if needed]. The key is to add the "/n,/e," to the end of the shortcut (don't type the quotes).



8. Create a Password Reset Disk

If you forget your Windows XP password, you cannot recover it. To prevent this ensure that you don’t forget your password ever, or instead create a password reset disk to log onto your computer when you forget your password. To create the disk:



Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click User Accounts.

Click your account name. Under Related Tasks, click Prevent a forgotten password. Follow the directions in the Forgotten Password Wizard to create a password reset disk. Store the disk in a secure location, because anyone using it can access your user account



9. Clean up Startup Menu

Type ‘msconfig’ in the Run dialog box to invoke the Windows XP’s System Configuration Utility (SCU). Under the Startup tab, you'll find a listing of each program that's called to start after Windows XP is booted up. It's here that you can disable things that are totally unnecessary, such as Quicken Agent, Yahoo Messenger or launchers employed by multimedia programs like RealPlayer and WinAmp. The beauty of the SCU is that disabled items aren't permanently deleted, they just don’t start automatically any more. So uncheck programs that you do not want to start automatically.






10. Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer

In Windows XP, you can lock your computer by pressing the ‘Windows + L’ keyboard keys simultaneously. If you prefer using something that is even faster then do the following:



Right-click the desktop. Point to New, and then click Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following: ‘rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation’ without the quotes. Click Next. Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock PC" or choose any name you like. Click Finish.



II. CLEAN, DEFRAG, OPTIMIZE



a) Close all programs running in the System Tray.


Open Internet Explorer and go to Tools > Internet Options. Click the Delete Cookies button and click OK in the resulting window. Click the Delete Files button. In the resulting window, check the box that says Delete all offline content and click OK. Now click the Clear History button, click Yes in the resulting window. Click OK and then close Internet Explorer.



c) Go to C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch (substitute the drive letter your OS is on). Delete the contents of this folder.



d) Now shutdown your PC and restart it in Safe Mode (press the F8 key after you turn the computer on). Use the arrow keys to scroll to the top and choose SAFE MODE). Run Disk Cleanup. Go to; Start > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. The drive you select will be the one you installed XP on, usually C. Click OK and an option screen comes up. Check all boxes except the bottom two (compress old files, catalog files). Click OK.



e) Defragment your drive. go to Start > Accessories > System Tools> Disk Defragmenter. Highlight the drive you installed XP on, usually C >click the Defragment button. This will take a while. When finished shut down and restart.



f) Download the Bootvis tool here from http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/performance/fastboot/default.asp ://http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/plat...ot/default.asp and store it onto your hard disk. Go to the folder you put the BootVis Tool in and launch the application. Click on TRACE and choose OPTIMIZE SYSTEM. Let BootVis do it's thing. It will take a few minutes. Do not interrupt the program. Once the tool finishes optimizing your PC, restart it. You will notice that now your PC will boot faster than before.


Author’s Note: If you have any questions, you may contact the author on manukhanna@rediffmail.com

The Bootvis.exe tool is no longer available from Microsoft


but fear not... i have travelled far into the universe and battled fearsome aliens to bring it to you here... or did i just find it on my hard drive.. ...





The software available here are provided "as is" with NO TECHNICAL SUPPORT. All software is to be used at your own risk.

Thanks BF ... love reading about tweaking.

And thanks Widescreen, hope the .. erm Aliens went .. erm easy on you

illlet you know ..... lol